Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill last week filed an “emergency lawsuit” against several Harris-Biden administration officials after a Chinese immigrant with a rare form of tuberculosis entered the United States illegally.
of lawsuit Federal immigration authorities release “potentially infectious detainees” who came into contact with Chinese nationals suffering from “a rare, aggressive, drug-resistant, and deadly form of tuberculosis” trying to prevent it from happening. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“ICE has announced its intention to release potentially infected detainees from two contracted facilities.” [in Louisiana] — without medical clearance from the Louisiana Department of Health — where release is required by order,” the complaint states.
“ICE has announced that once its immigration-based detention authority expires, its hands will be tied,” the lawsuit continues, adding that immigrants who may have been exposed to the disease will be taken to “the streets, bus stops, and airports of Louisiana.” He warned that he would be released.
“This is completely false,” Murrill insists. “The Surgeon General's continuing order requires that detainees at the two facilities in question be held until medically cleared by the Louisiana Department of Health.”
“This is a classic exercise of a state's sovereign prerogatives, its police powers and its obligation to protect public health within its borders,” she added, adding that the two sites where infected migrants were being held It was pointed out that the facility is not the owner. ice.
Murrill said more than 200 detainees and “countless non-detainees” were flown by ICE from California to Louisiana, where tuberculosis-infected immigrants were then shuttled between detention centers and processing facilities. It is estimated that he may have been exposed to tuberculosis.
The Chinese immigrant, a woman whose name is redacted in the lawsuit, illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in April and was arrested by federal authorities in California in July, according to the complaint.
“At least some of the approximately 40 detainees who arrived at the camp [Richwood Correction Center in Monroe, La.] and [her] He was subsequently deported, transferred, relocated, or released,” the complaint states.
The woman underwent a tuberculosis skin test upon arrival in Richwood, which was determined to be “highly positive” on July 23.
A chest X-ray also showed signs of “active tuberculosis,” according to the lawsuit.
ICE relocated “three days later…'' despite clearly having a contagious disease [her] She was sent to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center (the “Bazile Facility”) in Basile, Louisiana, where she was placed in the “general population” and potentially exposed more people to the pathogen.
“There were approximately 174 potentially infected detainees at the Basile facility. [the woman]Approximately 60 of them were deported, transferred, relocated, or released from the Basile facility, according to the complaint.
The woman tested positive again at the Basil facility in September and was hospitalized with “highly drug-resistant tuberculosis,” which Murrill said is “very resistant to both first- and second-line anti-TB drugs.” Resistant, difficult to treat, high mortality rate [between 34%-39%]”
Louisiana had no known “imminent threat to public health” until Oct. 9.
The attorney general's lawsuit, filed Oct. 16 and unsealed on Tuesday, includes Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ICE Acting Director Patrick Rechleitner, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen. Several people, including the director, have been named as defendants.
A district court judge in Louisiana is scheduled to hear arguments on Oct. 31 about the state's attempt to keep immigrants in ICE custody at the Richwood and Basil facilities until they are medically cleared.
“Securing our southern border is a top priority for America's security,” Murrill said in a statement. “Louisiana's repeated calls for the Biden-Harris Administration to protect our country are neither political nor unreasonable.”
“People who are not here legally should not be in the country,” she added. “Millions of illegal aliens continue to flow across the southern border, unidentified, untraced, and untested for diseases that can threaten the lives of Americans. .”
“The federal government is putting the health and safety of Louisiana and the American people at risk. Despite dereliction of duty by President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary Mayorkas, Louisiana officials are taking immediate action to protect the public. Ta.”
